Svindal places third by 0.01 in Bormio

December 29th, 2012

Aksel Lund Svindal thought there had been a mistake as he crossed the line to see his time flash up as one hundredth of a second back from the lead and in third place. Bormio is one of the toughest races on the World Cup tour yet produced an amazing finish as the first four racers finished within two hundredths of each other. Dominik Paris and Hannes Reichelt shared the win with Klaus Kroell back in fourth place, just one hundredth behind Svindal.

HEAD World Cup Rebel Svindal decided to rest instead of taking part in the final training run; such is the ferocity of the Bormio piste. From the moment the racer leaves the start gate they are subjected to bumps, jumps and extremely fast sections. This is not for the feint hearted!

After the race Svindal said, “I have not seen anything like that so far. I was in the finish and saw plus 0.01 and third place. I thought that there must have been a mistake, that it must have been second place. I am really happy to be the third fastest today. I am happy that it was only a hundredth as I was totally spent at the end.”

With Kroell still to come and then ahead at the final split, it looked as if the leader of the World Cup Overall and Downhill would be relegated to fourth. But in the last few moments Kroell made a mistake that saw him lose his lead of two tenths and post a time a hundredth behind Svindal. This was racing at its finest.

This was the first time in twenty years that the podium had been decided by such a close margin and the first time the first four finishers had been so close!

Svindal’s run was testament to his amazing recovery abilities. In the last third of the course, Svindal was bounced around and dug into his reserves to stay in the course and in the race. The rest the day before paid off!

It was a day of nearly also for Johan Clarey (5th but had led at the second split) and Kjetil Jansrud (had been heading for a strong finish until a mistake saw him drift out of the reckoning) and the fast finishing Ben Thomsen (15th).